BIO - Michael Drewell

BIO - Michael Drewell

Like many young people I wanted to travel and made the big step in 1986 when I boarded a plane bound for London, England with a back pack, a one way ticket, dreams and aspirations but not much money. With little knowledge of the world I thought it prudent to do a tour with similar aged young people like myself in order to get the lay of the land and some experience before setting out on my own. So two days after arriving in London I set off on my thirty day Contiki adventure. It would change my life.

It’s a long story but the first two days of the tour would prove pivotal. The first night in Paris when I saw what I still consider to be the most beautiful city in the world by night it filled me with wonder. The next day something in me changed when I was standing in front of a painting called “Raft of the Medusa” in the Louvre museum, with a knowledgeable local guide explaining how and why the painting was painted. Then that night I won a dance competition at one of the Paris Cabarets (believe me when I tell you I can’t dance) I think fate stepped in here.

Needless to say I had the time of my life for the next thirty days and at some time during the trip, probably because I was running out of the little money I had, I decided to apply to Contiki for a job. Travel the world and be paid. Little did I know how little the pay would be. At the end of my first year I tallied up my earnings and discovered I had been working for about 80 cents an hour. Money didn’t matter back then and I promptly signed up for the next year.

I held a number of positions with Contiki from European Coach Driver for the first six months. Then barman at the Contiki winter ski resort in a place called Hopfgarten, in the Austrian Tyrol where I learnt to ski. The following year I found my calling and trained as a tour director a job I have had a passion for, for my life to date. The following winter Contiki made me the assistant manager of the resort. Before promoting me to Operations Supervisor in the office in London after running one of their Tour Director training trips.

Training trips back then were a hellish experience. Eight weeks on a coach around Europe, being sleep deprived, prodded, analyzed and taught all they could teach us about Europe and how to be a Tour Director. It’s the basics to get you started. A good Tour Director will tell you they then served a five year apprenticeship followed by a three year residency before they became good at the job.

My position as Operations Supervisor didn’t last long as only four weeks into the position I was sent to Venice to look after Contiki’s largest hotel stopover. I stayed there for six months and so started my love affair with Venice. Still my favourite place in the world and believe me I have a very long list of favourite places in the world.

Venice is where I came into contact with Mike Ness, the then Managing Director of Trafalgar Tours. They were in the process of buying Contiki. We had breakfast at the Excelsior hotel and thus my move to Trafalgar was imminent.

For most of my eighteen year with Trafalgar I had been rated in the top five Tour Directors in the company. When I started there were just over 100 Tour Directors and when I left there were over 450. Being a Tour Director to me is position with much responsibility. Many of the people you deal with have saved all their lives to come away on what for many is the trip of a lifetime. These people deserve a professional who is still putting in as much effort into the tour in October as the first tour he or she did in March.

I should mention during my time with Trafalgar I was a part of the management team and formed a close bond with Mike Ness who is my mentor. As a result I have done many things for the company from promotions in any number of countries to training of staff in various capacities from sales to reservations.

For a short stint of twelve months I was made Managing Director of Insight Tours when Trafalgar bought that company. My job was to re-position the insight’s product to differentiate it from Trafalgar its main competitor. I might still be with Insight had I not had to leave for personal reasons.

And here we are today. Me wanting to start a family with my beloved wife and realizing I can’t raise a family while being away for seven months of the year. So let’s start this community and see if I can inject it with the passion I have had in my life to date.

My goal is simple and it has not changed since the day I started in the job. I want to give the person who has trusted me the very best holiday I can. That’s the best I can do and what I will continue to do until I retire.